CMLL announces September 16th Legends show, Reyes del Aire, ROH and more

CMLL’s press conference today was not streamed live, but +LuchaTV, MedioTiempo, PlantillaDeportiva, Furia de Titanes and others all covered. CMLL has put some stuff on their Twitter but hasn’t posted anything in full on their website yet, and there was no official live stream, so I’m just trying to patch it together and may add more later.

The big showcase was the 09/16 legends show, as previously announced on the Anniversary show.

CMLL (FRI) 09/16/2016 Arena México
1) Estrellita, Marcela, Sanely vs Amapola, La Jarochita, La Metálica
2) Blue Panther, Kahoz, Negro Navarro vs Mano Negra, Solar I, Súper Astro
3) Fuerza Guerrera, Negro Casas, Satánico vs Atlantis, El Fantasma, Máscara Sagrada
4) Máscara Dorada vs Bárbaro Cavernario [lightning]
5) Pierroth, Rey Escorpión, Rush vs Euforia, Matt Taven, Último Guerrero
6) Cien Caras, Máscara Año 2000, Universo 2000 vs Canek, Dos Caras Sr., Rayo de Jalisco Jr.

Note: this has an early, 5pm CT starting time. (That’s 3.5 hours earlier than normal.)

The names coming back to Arena Mexico as one off on a national holiday will help the show draw well (much better than they do on other shows), but it seems weird to see the should-be-retired guys being pushed as bigger stars the current wrestlers. I’ve got no idea if Matt Taven is any kind of historic lucha libre fan, but that’s a wild show to be working.

Fantasma thanks the Lucha commission for allowing him to wrestle on a show inside his jurisdiction. (So I guess he thanked himself?) The unmasked guys may be allowed to wrestle in their masks – they appeared with them at this press conference – but it wasn’t made clear. Mano Negra will be on the same show as his daughter. He noted he could’ve never imagined such a thing would’ve happened. Many of the legends will be back on Informa this evening.

I’m not sure who the La Metalica is.  There is one in Guatemala, but not the group that works with CMLL. (I suppose it could be indie luchadora Felina Metalica, but I think she’s booked.) (Edit: It really is Felina Metalica.) Jarochita appearing on this show suggests she’s sticking with CMLL and not Elite, but I think it’s going to take a while for all of that to definitely shake out. There did not appear to be any mention of Caristico’s status or Elite at all, and it doesn’t appear they opened it up to questions.

Dorada appears to be around for a month longer at least, so there’s chance Dorada/Cavernario could set up something the following week or they’re getting folded into next week. CMLL announced Reyes del Aire, CMLL annual flyer competition, returns on September 23rd with a final on September 30th. A two week format usually means a cibernetico on the first week that ends with two remaining (and everyone is confused and boos) and a singles match the next week. This is usually one of the more exciting CMLL matches of the year; it can be very one dimensional, but that one dimension is done exceptionally well.

This year, Reyes del Aire a tie up with the Esto sports daily, celebrating their 75th anniversary, and they’ll be doing some ticket giveaways. Dragon Lee, Volador, Valiente and Maximo were introduced as participants. It’d be tough to do one of these in 2016 without Dragon Lee, but we already know he’s not in the final because he’s booked in Ring of Honor on the 30th.

CMLL also announced they’d be sending Ultimo Guerrero, Hechicero, and Okumura to Ring of Honor on 10/29, as part of ROH’s tournament for their new trios tournament. Valiente was also announced as going to Ring of Honor on this show, though ROH’s only confirmed the trios team.

A documentary on Arena Mexico will air on September 29th, on Canal 22, a public station.

There were also quite a few CMLL/other business tie ups, so many that I’m probably missing one.

• CMLL and Bioparque (a zoo/outdoor park) are doing a deal, where you get 50% of your CMLL ticket if you have a ticket stub from the park
• and same deal for the La Chilanguita restaurant chain
• Uber and CMLL are also doing a deal starting this week.
• a purchase of 200 pesos (or more) of Kimberly Clark products at Chedraui will get you a free CMLL ticket.
• CMLL & Mistico are also working with a 10K race on October 2nd, as mentioned previously.
• CMLL has some tie in with drone racing on 10/17 and 10/18.

(At the very least, hopefully this means a bigger variety of commercials in between matches.)

No mention of the Fox Sports Deportes deal or Dorada’s status or anything else, as far as I can tell.